1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to article holders and, more particularly, to an improved eyeglasses and writing or drawing implement holder kit for use with any flat surface, especially the inside cover of a ring notebook.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Article holders have long been used to retain pens, pencils, and the like for convenience in carrying and transporting these articles. In more recent years, such article holders have been used in conjunction with paper organizers such as notebooks, ring binders, and folders so that these articles could be carried along with the paper work contained in the organizer. Although several such article holders have been used, none has been created that is easily transferable and detachably securable to any notebook cover or other flat surface that is also capable of holding diverse articles including writing utensils, scissors, rulers, and eyeglasses. Moreover, no article holder has utilized hook and loop (e.g., Velcro brand) fastening material to individually secure each article, thus allowing for the retention of a multiplicity of articles and/or implements.
As aforementioned, several article holders have been introduced. U.S. Pat. No. 4,306,737 issued Dec. 22, 1981 to Errichiello, shows one such holding means used in conjunction with a three ring binder. On the inside surface of the back cover of the binder, snap-in ribs are provided such that a ruler and two writing utensils may be secured. While these means do secure each implement individually, the article holding structure is integrally molded to the binder cover and, therefore, cannot be removed from the binder. Moreover, retention is limited to securing only a single ruler and two writing utensils of particular dimensions. A further disadvantage of this design is that these molded snap-in ribs are susceptible to breaking or chipping with normal use.
Another article holder is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,564,668 issued Jul. 29, 1969 to Kirk. The holder described in this patent again utilizes clips to secure writing utensils. While this holder is transferable to any book cover, notebook cover, sun-visor, or similar plate-like surface, there are several limitations with the design. Similar to the Errichiello patent described above, the utensil holder shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,564,668 uses clip-like holders that can only house utensils of certain dimensions and that are susceptible to breaking or chipping. Moreover, this utensil holder can only retain pens or pencils; no provision is made for the retention of rulers, scissors, eyeglasses or the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,100,684 issued Jul. 18, 1978 to Berger discloses another holder device. In this patent, paper products and a writing utensil may be supported by the holder device. The device itself is provided with a permanent magnet adhesively attached to its back surface. A ferrous metallic bar with an adhesive layer is supplied that may be adhered to a flat surface to which the holder device is to be detachably secured. While this configuration allows the holder device to be detachably secured to any flat ferrous metallic surface, a drawback of this configuration is that only a single writing utensil may be housed in the device. Another disadvantage is that articles held in the device are only supported due to the force of gravity. Therefore, if the device is tipped, as when carried with a notebook, the contents held by the device would spill out.
A similar utensil holder is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,549 issued Nov. 17, 1992 to Hayduchok in which a holding device is shown adapted to adhere to the inside cover of a attache case with adhesive strips of fastening material such as Velcro. While the device does retain the writing utensils in their places, again, the device is limited to use with writing utensils of particular dimensions, and no place is provided for the retention of other implements useful when writing or drawing.
Other patent references relating to article holders but less relevant to the instant invention include U.S. Pat. No. 2,088,953 issued Aug. 3, 1937 to Greer, U.S. Pat. No. 2,648,366 issued Aug. 11, 1953 to Higbee et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,457 issued Jul. 5, 1983 to Gassner, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,620 issued Sep. 11, 1984 to Gerch.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.